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All posts for the month April, 2013

Sorry for the gap between posts—my life has been somewhat disrupted as I have been travelling interstate attending some Japanese teachers’ conferences. Anyway, here I am back on track with some ideas for using Book 2 as a whole class activity and incorporating it into your Japanese teaching program.

If your students are subscribed to Language Perfect you will now find the word lists for the four books in Series 1 on the Language Perfect website. This means that you can add vocabulary learning and testing, and competitions to the list of activities related to each story.

I will also be releasing a CD in the near future. Readings of the four stories will be recorded onto it, along with the Rokunin no Tomodachi: Series 1 Song.

Suggested lesson sequence—outline

Scan the story, picture by picture, without reference to the text. Listen to the story (CD); read the story

Review language structures and vocabulary of the story

Cultural research—raccoon dogs and Japanese monkeys

Creative activity: Kamishibai

Ninjutsu—what exactly is it? Research

Creative activity: students make a model of a typical ninja house

Dramatic interpretation of the story

Dramatic interpretation of the story (contd.)

Research Japanese Obentou

Class lunch おべんとう. In groups, students present results of research in form of Kami Shibai, Ninjutsu demonstration, model Ninja house

LESSON 1

Scan, listen to, read the story (1 hour). Students work in pairs or small groups.

Scan the story (approx. 8 minutes). Students go through the story, picture by picture, without reading the text, and answer the questions on Worksheet 3.

Play the story on the CD. The first time through, students listen and follow the pictures. Then play the story through again. This time the students follow the script and repeat after CD, sentence by sentence. (24 minutes if you include the vocab. List).

Divide the vocabulary list evenly among the students and have each student make an illustrated, colour, A4 flashcard for each of his/her assigned vocab. items.

Each student writes a sentence in Japanese, using those words or phrases, to go on the back of the flashcard.

LESSON 2

Review language and structures (1 hour)

You will need:

Vocabulary flashcards made in Lesson 1

Using the flashcards made in Lesson 1, review the language and structures featured in the story. (15 minutes)

As part of my research into Ninjutsu, I contacted a local Ninjutsu Sensei, who was very helpful. I observed some training sessions and he was more than happy to answer questions. If there is a group near you, you may be able to arrange a visit to your school—either from the teacher or some of the advanced students.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

As well as the Websites cited above or in the worksheets, I found the following resources useful in gaining an understanding of the art of Ninjutsu.